A Lifetime Task
by Xfairy
Summary: Pre-XF -- Takes place in fall '73


** Title: A Lifetime Task  
Author: X_fairy (Diana_Lesky@gmx.net) Disclaimer: The X-files belong to CC and Mulder and Scully belong to each other, not to me! No infringement intended! - But actually they aren't really mentioned in the story...  
Rating: G  
Category: V  
Spoilers: None  
Archive: Anywhere, with my name and addy, but please let me know!   
Feedback: Please! I LOVE e-mail!  
Summary: Really can't tell - it takes place in fall '73, so you can guess that Sam's abduction is in there somewhere. First part is a teacher's point of view, the other you should be able to guess...  
Author's notes: I started this in a particularly boring English lesson...**

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A Lifetime Task  
by X_fairy  
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I was intrigued by her distinct expression of stubbornness and ambition the first time she stepped into the classroom, a tiny red-head - she was nine at that time, and no more than four feet tall, but held her head high enough to seem perfectly right among a group of twelve-year-olds, some of which looked like they were twice her size. They didn't make it easy for her, but by mid-September, after less than a month, she was an accepted member of the class, mostly due to her quick-wittedness and a not too small amount of charm. To my infinite surprise, she made friends with the most lonesome member of the class, who happened to be the smartest at the same time. That probably was the reason for their friendship - they were both looking for someone to talk to at the same level, and in that matter they were perfect for each other.   
***** I was shocked about Fox' new friend - a girl, and a nine year old one at that! Someone who seemed far more probable to me as a friend for Sam, and she didn't even look like nine, more like seven! Then I meet her for the first time, and started to understand what he saw in her - she looked like a school beginner, but talked like a graduate student, and that was just what Fox was looking for, that was what kept annoying him when he talked to his sister - she didn't understand any of the stuff he told her. I remember a time when they were small, Fox was five and Sam about one and a half, when he kept asking me when she would start speaking. He himself felt as if he'd been able to speak forever, and it was nearly true, many mothers of children his age had envied me when my son had started to speak at the age of seven month! And that was it, this girl seemed to be even more precocious than my son.   
She seemed to be with us all the time, at least five afternoons a week, and I guess that was because her mother was even less enthusiastic about her friendship with a boy three years older than her than I was. But I had to admit that they got along quite well - they argued all the time, but it was more of a scientific discussion than anything else. And I came to be a bit thankful for her presence, as she stopped Fox from offending his sister all the time, what fortunately kept his father from beating him up.   
But with her brother otherwise occupied, Sam became bored and - not knowing what she set in motion by this - complained to her father. When Bill heard that his son passed his time with a girl almost the age of his sister, but *not* his sister, without even understanding or wanting to understand the reason for this, he was *very* angry, and that resulted in lots of bruises and a broken wrist for Fox, even worse than usual.   
This event first showed me a sign of the non-scientific relationship between my son and his friend when, after Fox hadn't been to school for two days, she called, and talked so fast I could hardly understand a word. "It's Dana - Please tells me he's okay, please?" I reassured her that he would be fine, and for the first time wondered if there was more than I had thought - but she was only *nine*!   
*****  
I was relieved that Dana finally seemed to have found a real friend in her new class - I had been not only a little anxious about letting her skip one more year, but her father had insisted she do it, and he seemed to have made the right decision. The few times he was here, they seemed to be getting along well, and he was a really nice, bright boy. The only strange thing was that he kept having accidents all the time - he didn't seem that clumsy to me. Therefor I was hardly surprised that he was in hospital again when Dana asked me to take her there to visit her friend Fox, only that she wanted to go there, as she had never done that before.   
At the entrance, his mother was waiting for us, and she hushed us inside as if in a hurry. The boy looked perfectly healthy, but he lay in a very strange position. His mother smiled at Dana, "Thanks for coming. I hope you'll be able to get him out of this." At that moment, the boy started to tremble and mumbled, "Sam... Sam! SAM!!!" The last time he screamed. Dana ran in, climbed onto the edge of the bed and hugged him. He calmed down, and was still trembling, but this time with sobs. Dana held him tightly while he cried. I smiled. She had always been good at consoling anyone, not matter what had happened. I asked his mother, and her answer told me that it would be particularly difficult this time - Fox' sister had been kidnapped, and he felt it was his fault. Dana with her stubborn streak however, would never give up on him, and if it would take her whole life. 

The End!  



End file.
